After the terrible hassle of getting the Cambodian Visa after
getting stuck at the Vietnamese border and ending 2016 at a hostel with watersports
, I finally said goodbye to my travel mates in Kampot and set off on the road again by myself.
In Kampot, In the hostel I stayed at I met a french guy named Anthony who was hitchhiking across South East Asia. I then hitchhiked with a few friends to nearby town and back. After that, the hitchhiking spirit in me awoken after it’s long dormant sleep and I then decided to hitchhike completely across Cambodia.
I set out from Kampot on the second day of 2017, got my sign ready after breakfast and waited on the main road for about 5 mins before a family stopped and picked me up, they took me about 160 kms to a city near Phnom Penh and from there I managed to hitchhike to the capital at the back of a truck.
Since it was afternoon, I decided to spend the night in Phnom Penh and planned to hitchhike the long 350kms to Siem Reap the next day. In the hostel, I met an amazing Brazilian girl who I later met up with in Siem Reap and did the Angkor Wat with. The next day I set out to the outskirts of the city. Hitchhiking in cities is always hard and it was harder in Cambodia as people don’t really understand hitchhiking.
The next day I set out to the outskirts of the city. Hitchhiking in cities is always hard and it was harder in Cambodia as people don’t really understand hitchhiking. But Cambodian people are the friendliest and always ready to help.
I waited for nearly an hour, locals kept on coming up to me and trying to sell me a bus ticket! After an hour, a man in a fancy hotel car pulled over, I noticed the sticker of a resort of Siem Reap on the side of it. After checking to see if he was going there, I got in and he told me if I see anyone else who seem to be going that way to call them.
So then for the next 300 kms I was pretty much getting out of the van at every tiny village we passed and asking the locals waiting by the side of the road if they wanted a free ride to Siem Reap! It’s was the so amazing! It was an amazing experience and something I would have never experienced if I decided to just grab a bus instead of standing in the sun for an hour.
Hitchhiking was considerably more difficult in Cambodia as compared to most countries. Mainly because the people don’t understand it and they expect all travelers/foreigners to be rich and why would someone in their right mind hitchhike when they have money.
Maybe I’m not in my right mind, that would prove my mom right! Haha! Why do you ask? Well the second story above is why! You can have experiences that will make you glee with joy when you trust strangers. People will rather help you than hurt you❤️
